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Newsletter - #409 Special Edition: Remembering Norm Mineta's Legacy on September 11, 2026 #409 Special Edition: Remembering Norm Mineta's Legacy on September 11, 2026 In This Special Issue #409 Remembering Norm Mineta's Legacy on September 11, 2026 [We thank Daphne Kwok, a Committee of 100 member, a Founder of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), and Executive Director of APAICS at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks, for contributing to this special issue.] September 11 marks a date seared into our nation's collective memory. As we reflect on it, APA Justice wants to highlight and help preserve the leadership role that then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman "Norm" Mineta played on that day and in the years that preceded and followed — drawing on a firsthand account from Daphne Kwok , who attended a recent forum honoring his legacy and shared her reflections with APA Justice in a report titled "NEVER FORGET." A Forum in Washington On September 9, 2026, the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San Jose State University (SJSU) hosted a forum at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, to reflect on Norm Mineta's leadership during September 11, 2001 — twenty-five years later. Daphne attended. At the convening, attendees heard about Norm's decisive order grounding all planes over U.S. airspace — one of the most consequential decisions made that day — and about his call to Canada's Minister of Transport requesting assistance landing inbound overseas flights that could no longer reach the United States. Attendees also recalled a remark from then-President George W. Bush during that period: "We don't want to have happen today what happened to Norm in 1942" — a direct reference to the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, including Norm and his family. That history shaped how Norm approached the difficult days that followed. In the aftermath of 9/11, xenophobia and hate crimes quickly proliferated in communities across the country, with Muslim and Arab American communities bearing the brunt as scapegoats for an attack they had nothing to do with. Balbir Singh Sodhi was the first person killed in a retaliatory hate crime after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The 52-year-old Sikh American was killed outside a gas station he owned in Mesa, Arizona. He wore a turban and kept a beard as part of his Sikh faith. The gunman, Frank Silva Roque , drove around looking for people he believed were Middle Eastern or Muslim to target in revenge for 9/11. He mistakenly targeted Sodhi, who was planting flowers outside his business. Norman Mineta and His Legacy - An American Story Norman Yoshio Mineta 峯田 良雄 was born in San Jose, California, on November 12, 1931. He passed away at age 90 in Edgewater, Maryland, on May 3, 2022. Norm was a mentor to both Daphne and Jeremy Wu — who served under him at the Department of Transportation as Departmental Civil Rights Director and later Acting Chief Statistician — and to an entire generation of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) activists, leaders, and concerned citizens. But his story is really an American story. His life and legacy are the subject of " Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story ," a 56-minute documentary produced by Bridge Media, Inc. and distributed as a free educational resource through the Mineta Legacy Project . Among the many firsts of Norm's accomplishments are : · First Asian American mayor of a major American city — elected the 59th mayor of San Jose in 1971. · First Asian American to hold a presidential cabinet post — nominated by President Bill Clinton as U.S. Secretary of Commerce in 2000. · First Asian American to serve as U.S. Secretary of Transportation — appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001. · Only the fourth person in U.S. history — and by extension the first Asian American — to serve as a cabinet member under two presidents from different political parties (Clinton, a Democrat, and Bush, a Republican). Norm co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) in 1994 and served as its first chair. CAPAC advocates on issues affecting the AANHPI community at the federal level. Before CAPAC existed, AAPI concerns had no institutional home or dedicated advocacy structure on Capitol Hill. Today CAPAC has grown to 85 members, chaired by Rep. Grace Meng with Executive Director Judith Teruya . Chair Meng — the first Asian American elected to Congress from the East Coast — has credited Norm directly as a mentor, recalling that he founded CAPAC after watching Black and Hispanic members of Congress secure White House access that AAPI members lacked at the time. Norm also co-founded APAICS in 1994 (originally as the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Institute, later rebranded), alongside Delegate Robert Underwood — the same year he founded CAPAC. While CAPAC represents sitting members of Congress, APAICS was designed to build the pipeline of future AAPI leaders — training programs, fellowships, and leadership development specifically for the next generation of AAPI elected officials and congressional staff. This was a deliberate long-term investment. Takeaways From "Norman Mineta and His Legacy" There are many takeaways moments from the documentary Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story , including: 1. "We Will Not Do to Muslim Americans What We Did to Norm" Shortly after becoming Transportation Secretary, Norm spent a weekend with newly inaugurated President George W. Bush at Camp David. Over dinner, Bush asked him directly: "Tell me about camp life. Tell me about the evacuation." What struck observers, the documentary notes, was that Norm's answer carried no bitterness — "here's the greatest democracy in the world interning fellow citizens because of their background," yet Norm's response was instructive rather than angry. That conversation is part of what shaped President Bush's now-famous instinct, in the days after 9/11, to warn his cabinet against repeating history: "We will not do to Muslim Americans what we had done to Norm's family." 2. A Boy Scout Friendship That Passed the Civil Liberties Act At Heart Mountain, an 11-year-old Norm joined a Boy Scout troop inside the concentration camp. Scout leaders wrote to nearby towns asking for troops willing to visit — most refused, until a troop from Cody, Wyoming, finally came. Paired off to pitch a tent together, Norm met a fellow "pesky" kid named Alan Simpson . The two wrote to each other for decades: Norm was elected to the House in 1974, Simpson to the Senate in 1978, and their friendship carried on as if, in Norm's words, "we were still sitting in that pup tent." That friendship became essential decades later. When Norm pushed for redress for Japanese American incarceration — a bill that had died in committee year after year — it was Simpson, a conservative Republican in a chamber Democrats did not control, who helped carry it through the Senate alongside Senators Spark Matsunaga and Daniel Inouye . Norm chose September 17, 1987 — the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution — for the House vote on H.R. 442. Nearly a year later, on August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act into law: an official government apology, and $20,000 in reparations, to the 120,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. One observer in the documentary calls it "his crowning achievement" — legislation Norm pursued not as "a Japanese American issue," but as a test of whether the Constitution truly protects everyone, "regardless of race or culture." 3. A Racial Slur on Election Night Norm's 1971 mayoral victory made international news. But the morning after, he found the words "NO JAPS WANTED" — the World War II-era anti-Japanese slur — spray-painted across his garage door in Japantown. "You don't make a big thing out of it," he later reflected, "but you store it away," before turning his focus to running the city. It is a small, sobering detail that complicates the triumphant history of his landmark win. 4. The Apartment That Wasn't "Available" Years earlier, while engaged to be married, Norm answered a newspaper ad for an apartment. When he arrived, the landlord's wife told him she thought her husband had already rented it out — then called out to her husband to confirm, and he claimed it was gone. Norm walked to the corner gas station, called the same number, and asked if the apartment was still available. "Yeah, it's still available," the same man told him — this time not realizing who was asking. Norm never forgot the blatant discrimination, and in time, he would work to end it and many injustices like it. 5. "I Still Get Treated Like a Foreigner" Despite five decades of public service and a career of historic firsts, Norm admitted the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype never fully disappeared. "I still get treated like a foreigner," he said, describing the subtle scrutiny of stepping into an elevator and feeling people "give you the once over." It is why he always wore an American flag pin — not to prove his patriotism, he explained, but his citizenship: "I want to make sure everyone knows I am American.” 6. Solidarity Beyond the AAPI Community The documentary highlights two lesser-known chapters of Norm's advocacy. He was one of the earliest members of Congress to publicly endorse same-sex marriage, reasoning that "if a gay man could be one of the leaders in getting justice for us, we could do the same for him and his people." And as a primary sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Norm's motivation traced back to his time as San Jose's mayor, when he spent time in a wheelchair to understand the barriers people with disabilities faced — which is why, the documentary notes, curb cutouts exist on street corners today. In Closing Norm Mineta spent a lifetime being asked to prove he belonged in the country he never stopped believing in. Twenty-five years after 9/11, and four years after his passing, his answer to that question is still the clearest gift he left us: build the institutions, tell the truth about what happened, and never let one community's fear become another community's punishment. Watch the full documentary . NEVER FORGET. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2026/09/14 AAAS Town Hall with Sudip Parikh 202/6/09/24 C100 – Men of Iron and the Transcontinental Railroad 2026/09/28 Committee of 100 Awards Gala 2026/10/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the APA Justice website at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF September 14, 2026 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

website under development Global Tensions and Local Dimensions Webinar Learn more Birthright Citizenship Learn more China Initiative Chinese academics and researchers were systemically targeted in a government-led initiative and may be at threat again in the future Learn more Racial Profiling Targeting of individuals or groups due to their race or ethnicity Learn more History and Purpose of APA Justice A platform for Asian American justice and fairness Learn more Warrantless Surveillance The U.S. government engages in mass, warrantless surveillance of American citizens Learn more APA JUSTICE WEBINAR SERIES June 3: Webinar on Geopolitics, Identity, and the Fight for Civil Rights LEARN MORE Global Tensions and Local Dimensions Webinar Details Global Tensions and Local Dimensions Webinar Details Global Tensions and Local Dimensions Webinar Details Global Tensions and Local Dimensions Webinar Details The Latest Court Hearing and A New Movement Emerges Read More We published a Special Edition of our newsletter to cover the July 18 court hearing on Florida's new discriminatory housing law. Lawsuit Against Florida Senate Bill 264 Read More A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida filed a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Texas House Bill 1075 and Senate Bill 552 Read More Texas state representatives are attempting to stop foreign governments from purchasing Texas agricultural land. Rep. Judy Chu's New Year Greetings and 2022 Review Read More During the first APA Justice monthly meeting of 2023, Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, reviewed the accomplishments of 2022, highlighted by the end of the "China Initiative" and Sherry Chen's historic settlement. Community Calendar 01 Racial Profiling 03 Warrantless Surveillance 02 The China Initiative 04 Alien Land Bills Learn more about the pressing AAPI issues of today. Yellow Whistle Campaign Our partnership with the Yellow Whistle Project to promote self-protection and solidarity against discrimination and violence. Advocacy Our work with policy makers to push for AAPI rights and to ensure justice for AAPI academics and scientists. Know your rights Protect yourself by knowing your rights. National Media Network A national media alert network giving greater resources and a more assertive voice to the Asian American community. WHAT WE DO Learn more Watchlist See important issues and legislation we're monitoring Report a Hate Incident Learn what it means to be Chinese American Library See important issues and legislation we're monitoring Report a Hate Incident Learn what it means to be Chinese American Resources Learn about the history, responses, and current state of the APA community. Name Email I accept terms & conditions Stay informed Stay up to date with the latest news and developments from APA Justice Last name Subscribe You've signed up for the APA Justice newsletter. Stay informed Stay up to date with the latest news and developments from APA Justice Name Email I accept terms & conditions Subscribe You've signed up for the APA Justice newsletter.

#409 Special Edition: Remembering Norm Mineta's Legacy on September 11, 2026 September 14, 2026 Read #408 Frank Wu Remarks; August Meeting Highlights; AAU on OMB Rules; Inside Higher Ed Report September 10, 2026 Read #407 9/1 Monthly Meeting; NSF Rules Need Clarity; Getting Tech for US-China; AASF Symposium August 24, 2026 Read #406 Franklin Tao, Jane Wu Lawsuits; Trump on Birthright Citizenship Again; Census Rules; + August 13, 2026 Read #405 8/3 Monthly Meeting; Nicholas Platt; Re-identification Risk; IM Pei's Dallas City Hall August 3, 2026 Read #404 8/3 Monthly Meeting; Science in US Needs Plan; Coalition Pushes Back; AASF Symposium;+ July 27, 2026 Read #403 OMB Rules Gut Grants/Collaboration; Yanping Chen Motions; Election Speech Backlash; + July 23, 2026 Read #402 NSF to Ban Most Research with China; National APA Museum; More ICE Shootings; + July 16, 2026 Read #401 SCOTUS/APAs Reaffirm Birthright Citizenship; Reporter Herridge Contempt Fine Stands; + July 13, 2026 Read #400 400 Issues Later: Still Building Community, Advocacy, and Voice June 12, 2026 Read #399 A Memorable Webinar Co-Hosted by Committee of 100, U.S.-China Education Trust, and APA Justice June 10, 2026 Read #398 Maryland Speaker and Delegate at 6/1 Meeting; Leaders Comment; NYT Immigrant Squeeze;+ June 5, 2026 Read < < 1 1 1 Newsletters APA Justice began publishing a free periodic newsletter about 4-7 times a month in July 2020. You can subscribe here . Visit the Virtual Library to search the entire collection. Filter by year

Newsletter - #408 Frank Wu Remarks; August Meeting Highlights; AAU on OMB Rules; Inside Higher Ed Report #408 Frank Wu Remarks; August Meeting Highlights; AAU on OMB Rules; Inside Higher Ed Report In This Issue #408 · Frank Wu Remarks on the Misleading Argument About Racism Raised During the House Select Committee Hearing on China · More August 2026 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Highlights · AAU: White House's Proposed Restrictions on International Science Collaboration "A Mistake" · Agencies Move to Implement OMB’s Proposed Takeover of Grant Making · News and Activities for the Communities Frank Wu Remarks on the Misleading Argument About Racism Raised During the House Select Committee Hearing on China At the July 6, 2026 APA Justice Meeting, Frank Wu , a leading scholar on racism toward minority communities who recently retired as the 11th president of Queens College, City University of New York, shared his perspective on the argument made during a House Select Committee on the CCP hearing, where a witness and a committee member argued that a person “cannot be racist because he is married to a Chinese woman.” Placing the Argument in Historical Context Frank situated this exchange within the broader arc of American civil rights history. Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he noted, American society has largely rejected explicit racial stereotyping — but this is a “fragile consensus” that took decades to build, and one that does not extend evenly to all groups. Asian Americans, Frank argued, do not always fall inside this consensus because they do not fit the traditional Black-White civil rights paradigm familiar to most Americans. Instead, they are persistently viewed through a lens of foreignness and national security – particularly during periods of geopolitical tension — leaving Asian Americans subject to the enduring “perpetual foreigner” stereotype. National security concerns, he noted, have historically created conditions in which discrimination against Asian Americans becomes socially acceptable, even as similar treatment of other groups would be widely condemned. Why "I'm Married to a Chinese Woman" Misses the Point Frank directly addressed the hearing exchange, cautioning against generalizing the actions or traits of a small number of individuals to an entire ethnic community - describing this generalization as the core mechanism of racial stereotyping itself. A personal relationship, he suggested, does not inoculate someone from perpetuating harmful stereotypes about an entire community. He also cited the Committee of 100 polling data showing that the general American public holds more favorable views of Chinese people and China than many policymakers and political leaders do, suggesting that some of the rhetoric emerging from Washington may be out of step with broader public sentiment. Focus on Impact, Not Intent Frank’s central recommendation: debate over whether someone is personally “a racist” are a distraction and an unwinnable argument. Instead, he urged focusing on the real-world effects and impacts of people's words and actions, regardless of their intent — a framework he argued is both more productive and harder to deflect than litigating someone's inner character. More August 2026 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Highlights At APA Justice's August 2026 monthly meeting, Roger Innes — a Distinguished Professor of Biology at Indiana University and a leading plant pathologist — offered a firsthand account of how National Science Foundation’s (NSF's) new research security policy and Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB's) proposed grantmaking overhaul are playing out in an active, NSF-funded lab. Why International Collaboration Matters in His Field Roger opened with a vivid illustration of the stakes: plant disease resistance and food security research depends fundamentally on international collaboration, since researchers work to protect U.S. crops from pathogens that cross borders freely, regardless of geopolitics. Roger is NSF-funded and has employed numerous international postdocs over the years, including several from China — several of whom have since returned home and now run their own labs there, relationships he maintains to this day. Routine Science, Now Caught in Ambiguity Roger's account connected directly to the "vague definition of collaboration" problem raised earlier in the meeting by Kenny Evans and Tam Dao of Rice University. Practices that are entirely routine in his field — exchanging biological materials like plant seed and plasmid DNA with international colleagues, something both expected and often required by funding agencies and journals as a condition of publication — are now caught in ambiguity under the new rules. In direct response, Indiana University has implemented a policy requiring express permission before shipping or requesting biological materials to or from any lab in China, with a review process that now takes about a month to determine compliance. A Policy Working Against Its Own Stated Goal Roger argued this new review process is significantly slowing down research — and, in his view, is being used by both government and universities to shut down international collaborations outright. He described this as producing the opposite of the policy's stated purpose: rather than protecting U.S. science from IP theft, the added friction risks cutting American researchers off from cutting-edge innovations happening in leading labs abroad, particularly in China, which he described as a leader in his own field of plant disease resistance. "Jaw-Dropping": Roger's Reaction to the OMB Proposal Turning to the OMB grantmaking rule, Roger called the proposal "jaw-dropping," expressing alarm that it would politicize all federally funded work — pure science and social-support programs alike — by subjecting grant decisions to political appointee review rather than traditional peer review. He framed the scientific community's core objection simply: funding should go to the best science, not the most politically palatable science, and this policy risks effectively ending peer review as the basis for federal research funding altogether. Roger noted the strong pushback the proposal has already generated across the scientific community — consistent with the nearly 497,000 public comments we have reported — leaving an open question of whether OMB will respond to those concerns, or whether Congress will act if it does not. Roger's account puts a human face on the policy debates APA Justice has tracked closely this year — showing how abstract rulemaking translates into monthlong compliance delays, chilled international collaboration, and researchers questioning whether routine scientific exchange is even permissible anymore. His observation that China now leads in aspects of his own field underscores a recurring theme across our recent coverage: that policies aimed at protecting U.S. science risk instead isolating it, at real cost to the researchers — including the many Chinese and Chinese American scientists — who make that science possible. Report by Joanna YangQing Derman During the same meeting, Joanna YangQing Derman , Director at Advancing Justice | AAJC, reported that the House passed the FY27 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 880) on July 22 by a bipartisan vote of 216-212. The bill heads to the Senate for consideration and negotiation. As in past years, AAJC plans to send a letter to NDAA conferees outlining AAPI priorities, and is currently tracking relevant amendments in both the House and Senate versions to inform that letter. More details will follow as they become available. AAJC is also reviewing state-level "land laws" (state restrictions on land ownership by certain foreign nationals or entities) and updating AAJC's federal and state-level tracker, targeted for completion by the end of August recess, in addition to other public-facing materials, such as messaging guidance and a resource to help individuals assess their own state's land laws and identify community-level advocacy steps. August 2026 Monthly Meeting Summary Posted The August 2026 monthly meeting summary has been posted at https://bit.ly/3V4c0pj . We thank these distinguished speakers at the August 3 meeting: · Judith Teruya , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) · Joanna YangQing Derman , Director, Anti-Profiling, Civil Rights & National Security Program, Advancing Justice | AAJC · Tam Dao , Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Research Security, Rice University · Kenny Evans , Fellow in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Rice University · Roger Innes , Distinguished Professor, Biology, Indiana University AAU: White House's Proposed Restrictions on International Science Collaboration "A Mistake" The Association of American Universities published a detailed critique on August 26, 2026, of OMB's proposed Uniform Guidance rule — the same sweeping grantmaking overhaul we have covered extensively in recent issues — arguing that its international-collaboration restrictions go far beyond addressing genuine security risks and would instead isolate American science at precisely the moment it can least afford to. What OMB Is Proposing The rule would bar federal funds from being used for collaborations with "covered foreign countries" or "covered foreign entities" unless pre-authorized by an agency head or expressly permitted by statute, and would separately prohibit collaboration with countries under national-security-related sanctions. Central to the proposal: expanding the "Wolf Amendment" — currently limited to NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's dealings with China — across the entire federal government. The rule also imposes a "domestic-first" framework restricting awards to foreign entities, and classifies most publication and international conference-travel costs as unallowable without prior agency approval. AAU's Core Argument: This Solves Nothing That Isn't Already Addressed AAU's central critique is that robust research security frameworks already exist — federally funded institutions already must disclose foreign funding, screen for ties to foreign talent programs, and maintain formal security programs. OMB's proposal, AAU argues, abandons that targeted approach in favor of treating entire categories of international science as inherently suspect, without clearly defining the terms ("covered foreign countries," "covered foreign entities") institutions would need to comply with. Concrete Harms AAU and Others Have Identified Fundamental research with no security risk would be banned outright — including U.S.-China collaboration on public health, pandemic preparedness, and food security research intended for open publication. Multinational projects could be derailed by a single foreign participant. Stand Up for Science warned the rule could bar U.S. researchers from projects that include even one Chinese researcher — and ProPublica reported this could exclude American scientists from facilities like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which more than 60 nations contributed to and where China, Russia, India, Italy, and Pakistan have all supplied critical components or expertise. The Wolf Amendment expansion would effectively end U.S.-China research collaboration entirely. A recent congressional report and subsequent NASA enforcement actions suggest even routine, multi-author studies with Chinese co-authors could now be treated as restricted. The Washington Post called this potentially "the largest break in U.S.-China scientific engagement in decades" — arriving at a moment when China has now overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest R&D funder. AAU's Toby Smith told the Post : "I do think there are still members of Congress who think we have a monopoly on knowledge... That is not the case with China. We are no longer the leader in many areas of science." Even allied nations would be affected. The International Association for Great Lakes Research warned the "domestic-first" framework would hamper Great Lakes research collaboration with Canada, calling the approach "counterproductive to collaborative partnerships working on transnational problems." International Alarm The pushback is not limited to U.S. institutions. The League of European Research Universities warned the rule would make the U.S. a less attractive research partner; London's Royal Society said it was "deeply concerned," noting science has historically built bridges between nations "even during periods of geopolitical tension"; and the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities said the rule "would impose significant barriers on international research collaboration" essential to scientific progress. AAU's Bottom Line AAU's comment letter urged OMB to withdraw or substantially revise the international-collaboration provisions entirely, arguing that "a more effective approach would build on existing, targeted research security frameworks while preserving the openness and international collaboration that have long been central to U.S. scientific leadership." A Significant Update: Senate Acts to Block the Rule In a related AAU report published on August 13, 2026, the Senate passed a bill temporarily blocking OMB's proposed revisions to federal grantmaking processes. This marks the most concrete legislative pushback to date against the rule we have tracked since its May proposal — a potentially major development for APA Justice's ongoing coverage of this issue, and one we will aim to cover in more detail in an upcoming issue. Why This Matters for APA Community This AAU statement reinforces concerns we have raised throughout our coverage of the OMB rule and NSF's parallel China collaboration ban: that policies framed as national security measures risk sweeping in vast amounts of legitimate, low-risk scientific collaboration — with Asian American and Chinese American researchers, and the broader U.S.-China scientific relationship, bearing a disproportionate share of the disruption. Agencies Move to Implement OMB’s Proposed Takeover of Grant Making On August 24, 2026, Inside Higher Ed reported that the Education Department and NSF are moving forward with their own agency-specific rules that would implement key elements of OMB's controversial grantmaking overhaul — even though the underlying OMB rule itself has not been finalized, and a Senate-passed continuing resolution has temporarily blocked it through mid-December. What the agencies are proposing: · The Education Department published a proposed rule Monday that would let the Education Secretary terminate ED grants (covering college access, workforce training, and similar programs) simply "for convenience," and would let her prioritize grant applicants who agree to lower or zero overhead cost rates. States and subgrantees receiving these grants would also have to comply with the president's executive orders — even though such orders are not supposed to carry the force of law. · NSF closed its own public comment period on a similar proposal, which includes language stating NSF "may act immediately to suspend or terminate [grants] if needed to protect government interests." Notably, NSF's proposal explicitly states one of its goals is "aligning with the proposed revisions to" OMB's Uniform Guidance rule — an open acknowledgment that this is meant to implement OMB's vision at the agency level. The "runaround" framing : Amanda Fuchs Miller (Seventh Street Strategies, former Biden-era deputy assistant secretary) argues this is a deliberate workaround: after courts rejected the administration's earlier attempts to cancel grants at will, and after the OMB rule drew nearly 500,000 public comments and a temporary congressional block, individual agencies are now pursuing the same substantive powers through smaller, less-scrutinized agency-specific rules that may "fly under the radar." She warned this introduces "huge unpredictability" for colleges, whose grants could be canceled at any time. American Council on Education (ACE) President Ted Mitchell submitted a comment on behalf of ACE and 24 other higher ed organizations expressing "deep concerns" that NSF's proposal "would incorporate many of the problematic provisions" from the OMB rule, urging NSF not to finalize its rule until the OMB rule itself is resolved. ACE's Sarah Spreitzer noted OMB has not even responded to comments on its own proposal yet, but said proceeding out of order is consistent with how the administration has operated for the past year and a half — creating chaos first, then "retroactively going back to provide the structure for those decisions." News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2026/09/10 Beyond the party line: Chinese American partisanship and vote choice 2026/09/11 Getting Tech Right: U.S. China Policy for a New Era 2026/09/14 AAAS Town Hall with Sudip Parikh 202/6/09/24 C100 – Men of Iron and the Transcontinental Railroad 2026/09/28 Committee of 100 Awards Gala 2026/10/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the APA Justice website at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF September 10, 2026 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Read More 1. A Call to Stop Senate Bill 147 and All Alien Land Laws Friday, February 17, 2023 12:00 AM Read More 1. Bridging Nations: People-to-people Exchange in U.S.-China Relations Thursday, October 16, 2025 12:00 AM Read More 1. From Past Prejudice to Present Policy: The Impact of Land Ownership Exclusion Laws on Diverse Communities Wednesday, December 11, 2024 12:00 AM Read More 1. The Human and Scientific Costs of The "China Initiative" Wednesday, September 30, 2020 12:00 AM Read More 2. Bridging Nations: Global Competition for Talent & International Students Thursday, February 26, 2026 12:00 AM Read More 2. Fair Housing Rights & Alien Land Laws: Challenges and Advocacy for the Asian American Community Tuesday, March 4, 2025 12:00 AM Read More 2. Historical Re-Hash - Alien Land Law and SB147 Wednesday, March 1, 2023 12:00 AM Read More 2. Policy Needs for U.S. Science and Scientists Wednesday, December 2, 2020 12:00 AM Read More 3. Building Coalition Against “China Initiative” Discrimination - Fighting racial targeting of Asian Americans and communities of color, past & present Wednesday, February 24, 2021 12:00 AM Read More 3. Geopolitics, Identity, and the Fight for Civil Rights Wednesday, June 3, 2026 12:00 AM Read More 4. Legal Resources and Policy Advocacy - How to Combat Racial Profiling Under the “China Initiative” Wednesday, April 28, 2021 12:00 AM Read More 5. The Mistrial of Professor Anming Hu under the "China Initiative" Wednesday, June 23, 2021 12:00 AM

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Issues Alien Land Bills This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More COVID-19 This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More The China Initiative This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More Warrantless Surveillance This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Read More

Impacted Persons List Anming Hu 胡安明 Read more Baimadajie Angwang 昂旺 Read more Charles Lieber Read more Chen Song 宋琛 Read more Danhao Wang 汪丹浩 Read more Davis Lu Read more Franklin Tao 陶丰 Read more Gang Chen 陈刚 Read more Gee-Kung Chang 張繼昆 Read more Haizhou Hu Read more James Patrick Lewis Read more Jane Ying Wu 吴瑛 Read more Juan Tang 唐娟 Read more Kaikai Zhao 赵凯凯 Read more Kevin Wang Read more Lei Guan 关磊 Read more Lin Yang Read more Meyya Meyyappan Read more Mingqing Xiao Read more Qing Wang 王擎 Read more Simon Saw-Teong Ang 洪思忠 Read more Song Guo Zheng Read more Turab Lookman 特拉伯·鲁克曼 Read more Van Andel Research Read more Wuyuan Lu 陆五元 Read more Xiao-jiang Li 李晓江 Read more Xiaofeng Wang 王晓峰 Read more Xiaoming Zhang Read more Xiaoxing Xi 郗小星 Read more Xifeng Wu 吴息凤 Read more Xin Wang 王欣 Read more Yanping Chen 陈燕平 Read more Yanqing Ye Read more Yu Zhou, Li Chen Read more Zaosong Zheng Read more Zhendong Cheng Read more Filter by Category China Initiative NIH Other Sort by Alphabetical by first name Alphabetical by last name

Latest Posts Court Hearing and A New Movement Emerges July 24, 2023 We published a Special Edition of our newsletter to cover the July 18 court hearing on Florida's new discriminatory housing law. Read More Lawsuit Against Florida Senate Bill 264 May 22, 2023 A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida filed a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Read More Texas House Bill 1075 and Senate Bill 552 January 23, 2023 Texas state representatives are attempting to stop foreign governments from purchasing Texas agricultural land. Read More Rep. Judy Chu's New Year Greetings and 2022 Review January 9, 2023 During the first APA Justice monthly meeting of 2023, Rep. Judy Chu, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, reviewed the accomplishments of 2022, highlighted by the end of the "China Initiative" and Sherry Chen's historic settlement. Read More Campaign to Oppose The Nomination of Casey Arrowood July 29, 2022 Academics, elected officials, and civil rights groups across the country are raising concerns about the nomination of Casey Arrowood to be US Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Read More APA Justice Calls for Release of Report on Review of "China Initiative" March 8, 2022 On March 8, 2022, APA Justice sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, calling for the release of a report on the Department of Justice's review of the “China Initiative.” Read More Texas man accused of attacking Asian family over racist coronavirus fears pleads guilty to hate-crime charges February 24, 2022 Nearly two years later, a 21-year-old Texas man who attempted to kill an Asian man and his young child has pleaded guilty to federal hate-crime charges. Read More 12. China Initiative Ends February 23, 2022 Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen announced the end of the China Initiative. The 1,210 days of the Initiative were extremely damaging to individuals and their families, as well as the Asian American and scientific communities. The end of the China Initiative is a welcomed start to correct the harms it caused. APA Justice is committed to continue its work to address racial profiling and seek justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American communities. Read More 11. MIT Technology Review Investigative Reports December 2, 2021 On December 2, 2021, MIT Technology Review published two investigative reports on the China Initiative as newly appointed Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen was conducting a review of the initiative. Read More < < 1 1 1 What's the best flavor? Activists Including APA Justice Resist New "Red Scare" Chinese Americans are increasingly finding themselves targeted by the US in what has become the new "Red Scare."

[object Object] 1rmxaiqtkjBe-1mkcEb5lsgq0KH13kH3dULOVxY8O3Vk copy-of-20260824-aasf-2026-frontier-pioneer-symposium AASF 2026 Frontier & Pioneer Symposium - test The Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), in partnership with Stanford University's Asian American Research Center, convened its 2026 Frontier & Pioneer Symposium from August 7–9 at Stanford — a three-day gathering that drew over 2,000 registrants and nearly 90 speakers, moderators, and session leaders, marking AASF's fifth anniversary and third annual symposium. It honored scientific pioneers amid a turbulent year for science and research. Three-Day Program The program opened August 7 with the Frontier Symposium, continued August 8 with the Pioneer Symposium & Ceremony, and closed August 9 with a Policy Forum held in partnership with the Hoover Institution's program on the U.S., China, and the World. Featured speakers included Nobel laureates Steven Chu 朱棣文 , Syukuro Manabe , Randy W. Schekman , Samuel C. C. Ting 丁肇中 , and Carl Wieman ; Fields Medalist Terence Tao 陶哲轩 ; AI pioneers Jeff Dean and Fei-Fei Li 李飞飞 ; National Academy of Engineering President Tsu-Jae King Liu 劉金智潔 ; former NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan ; and former OMB Deputy Director Nani A. Coloretti , among many others from academia, industry, and government. Honoring Pioneers, Past and Present AASF presented the 2026 Asian American Pioneer Medal to five honorees: Dr. Louise T. Chow 周芷 , for discovering RNA splicing; Dr. Narinder Singh Kapany (posthumous), for pioneering fiber optics; Dr. Syukuro Manabe , for transforming climate science; Professor Terence Tao 陶哲轩 , for advances spanning prime-number theory to compressed sensing; and Professor Samuel C. C. Ting 丁肇中 , for discovering the J/ψ particle and revealing the charm quark. The Asian American Justice Medal went to two trailblazers, both honored posthumously: Senator Hiram Fong 鄺友良 , a pioneer in national politics, and Larry Itliong , honored for his labor rights activism. Science at the Frontier Sessions spanned artificial intelligence, quantum computing, energy, and the life sciences. Louise T. Chow 周芷 revisited her discovery of RNA splicing and its lasting impact on gene expression research. Steven Chu 朱棣文 discussed progress and unresolved challenges in battery storage, solar power, and climate. Yi Cui 崔屹 , the symposium's Program Co-Chair, highlighted advances in silicon-anode batteries and grid-scale storage. Jeff Dean , in his first public appearance since leaving Google after 27 years, discussed AI's growing role in accelerating scientific discovery. Fei-Fei Li 李飞飞 explored AI's evolution toward spatial and physical intelligence, while urging the audience to preserve human agency as a design principle. Terence Tao 陶哲轩 examined how AI is reshaping mathematical research, and Samuel C. C. Ting 丁肇中 reflected on five decades of experimental physics, from the J/ψ discovery to his ongoing search for dark matter aboard the International Space Station. Research and Mentorship Roundtables held over lunch on August 7 and 8 gave students and early-career researchers direct access to leading scientists and AASF Fellows in smaller, cross-generational settings. A Policy Forum Confronting the Moment The symposium's third day turned directly to the political headwinds facing American science, from the OMB grantmaking rule to NSF's leadership upheaval and the broader research "brain drain." The Policy Forum examined federal research funding, civil rights and science, U.S.-China competition, and public service leadership, featuring Sethuraman Panchanathan , Nani A. Coloretti , Reps. Ted Lieu and Sam Liccardo , former Rep. Mike Honda , and AASF Executive Director Gisela Perez Kusakawa , among others. Coming at a moment when we have reported extensively on threats to the research enterprise — from the OMB rule's restrictions on international collaboration to reports of prominent scientists departing U.S. institutions for opportunities abroad — this symposium offered a striking counter-narrative: a celebration of Asian American scientific achievement at the highest levels, convened by the same community organizations, including AASF fellow Peter Michelson 's network, that have been most vocal in defending the research ecosystem this year. The gathering's scale and caliber of honorees underscore what the Asian Pacific American community stands to lose if current funding and immigration pressures continue to drive talent away. Previous Item Next Item

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